First Solar Building 10MW Solar Plant for Sempra

Thin-film darling First Solar said it will build a 10 megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant for power company Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of California utility Sempra Energy [SRE]. Sempra Generation said the solar plant will be built on 80 acres next to a 480 megawatt combined cycle natural gas plant near Boulder City, Nev.

Like several of First Solar’s [FSLR] recently announced U.S. projects, the Tempe, Ariz.-based thin film solar company will design and build the plant using its thin film solar PV, and Sempra Generation will own and operate it. First Solar is also building a 7.5 MW solar plant, with the potential to scale up to 21 MW, in Blythe, Calif., in a contract with Southern California Edison. So Cal Edison also tapped First Solar to build out the first 2 MW installation of its massive 250 MW solar rooftop project.

Sempra Generation says the 10 MW solar plant will be its first solar energy project, and it claims that the project will be “the largest operational thin-film, solar-power project in North America.” For now: If the Blythe solar plant reaches 21 MW, it would more than double Sempra’s development.